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1. Town charges congregation for police presence during protest
With Elvira Arellano and her son back in Mexico after a year's stay in a Chicago church, the neo-sanctuary movement's eyes have turned to United Church of Christ in Simi Valley, California, where an undocumented/illegal immigrant identified only as a 25-year-old Mexican woman named Liliana has taken shelter with her 5-month-old son.

It's safe to say the UCC congregation is not evangelical. Its website, for example, has links to three different Rastafarian websites, CAIR, earthspirit.org, pagans.org, wicca.org; and countless gay sites. But not one to an evangelical organization, ministry, or church. In a recent sermon, the pastor preached: "There are those who would have us believe … that God wants each of us to find Jesus and be saved. Don't believe it for a minute!" In that same sermon, she condemned, from the pulpit, by name, the "no middle ground thinking" of "a young man [who] wanted to give testimony to his own journey and his decision to follow Jesus."

In other words, it seems like a rather intolerant and insular congregation to me. Still, I don't really see the point of the demonstration organized by Save Our State, which protested outside the church Sunday and sought to make a citizen's arrest of Liliana. News reports say there were about 120 protesters and counter-protesters when someone sprayed a chemical, injuring one of the church's supporters. No arrest was made in that incident, but between four to fifteen officers were standing by to make sure the protest and counter-protest didn't get out of hand.

Simi Valley mayor Paul Miller announced that the United Church of Christ congregation will be billed $39,306 for the police presence. Miller explained that while the church didn't ask for a police presence, it created a need for one by announcing it was harboring an illegal immigrant.

"They set up this confrontation," he told the Ventura County Star.

Legal experts say it may be an unprecedented move, and that the city will have an uphill legal fight in making the bill stick.

A Ventura County Star editorial agrees: "The city of Simi Valley is using the weight of government improperly, trying to intimidate the church by sending it a bill. It is unconstitutional — un-American — and we are certain a court of law will make that clear to the city council."

That's a better argument than the over-the-top response from Rabbi John Sherwood, chairman of the local interfaith ministerial association. "What the city is doing is giving legal license to racism, and they are attacking the victim," he said. Dude, you're not helping.

2. New Jersey punishes Methodists for barring lesbian civil union ceremony
The Methodist Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association barred lesbian couples from holding civil union ceremonies at its boardwalk pavilion. The state civil-rights office is investigating whether that violates state antidiscrimination law, but in the meantime the state's environmental commissioner has revoked the tax-exempt status for the pavilion. "Simply put, the pavilion needs to be available equally to all persons to retain its tax exempt eligibility under this particular statute," the commissioner explained.

New Jersey's main gay-rights group may appeal the tax exemption denial because it's not harsh enough. News reports say the association will probably end up paying only about $175 a year as a result of the decision. The rest of the boardwalk and the beach, which are also owned by the camp meeting association, are still tax exempt. By the way, one of the lesbian couples who filed a complaint with the civil rights office held a civil union ceremony on the association-owned pier rather than the pavilion.

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September (Web-only) 2007, Vol. 51